Taxes Going Down
Quality of Life Rising in Sunny Isles Beach
By Bari Auerbach

Ever since Sunny Isles Beach incorporated in 1997, residents have appreciated one of the lowest property tax rates in Miami-Dade County – and now, the tax rate is getting even lower – giving everyone even more reason to celebrate the city’s 8th anniversary.

At a budget hearing held on Sept. 8 at City Hall, the City Commission unanimously approved lowering taxes to $2.95 per $1,000 of a property’s assessed value from the previous rate of $3.35. (Since the city’s tax base has increased about 21 percent from last year, tax bills might show an increase because of the higher assessments.)

Discussions about lowering the tax rate originated at a May 12 City Commission meeting when Jerry Chiocca of City Auditors Rachlin, Cohen & Holtz presented the Audit Report for fiscal year 2003-2004. “I have good news,” Chiocca said. “The City of Sunny Isles Beach is in excellent financial shape.

Following a unanimous vote by the Commission to approve the Audit Report, Mayor Norman Edelcup noted, “ The city’s fiscal health as we’ve seen is extremely good and we have an over $8 million surplus for a ‘rainy day,’ hurricane or any other catastrophes that could befall the city. [Speaking] with City Manager [Christopher Russo], I asked him to look at this year’s budget to see of it’s feasible that we may be able to give some tax relief to citizens in the coming year given the fact that we are in very strong shape.

“There is a lot of new construction coming up…I know a lot of people have been burdened because of high [property] appraisals - and now there may be an opportunity to do some tax relief.”

City Manager’s Report
At the Sept. 8 budget meeting, City Manager Christopher Russo provided the following budget overview, highlighting the proposed 13.5 percent property tax rate reduction.

“In the proposed budget [for fiscal year 2005-2006] we’re talking about a reduced tax rate of $2.95 - down from $3.35 [per $1,000 of assessed property value],” Russo said.

“The biggest portion of the ad volarem tax (43.5 percent) funds the city’s operating budget and about 11 percent is dedicated to the capital budget…the rest [encompasses] ‘other non-property tax revenues.’ We’ve had a substantial increase in those – [for example] building permits were up more than anticipated.

“The growth of our tax base has also been consistent…The city had a 21 percent increase…for this proposed budget we went from about $3.2 billion to $3.9 billion which gave us the ability to propose a reduction in the tax rate.

Our budget, in total, has gone from about $18 million to $20 million - and approximately three-quarters of that increase is on the revenue side. The ad volarem property tax from last year to this year is up roughly a little over $600,000…that was the growth still there even after the tax rate reduction – but for the first time, our ‘other revenue’ category has gone up almost by $1.5 million, which is good news.”

‘New Revenue’
Going over “revenue pages” in the printed budget, Russo noted, “Under the ‘gas tax,’ there is roughly a $135,000 increase…that money is predominately coming from an increase in the transit system tax we adopted last year.

“Other major revenue increases include building permit fees – they’re half a million dollars more and electrical permits are up $100,000 - consistent with the growth of the community…From ‘parking meters,’ there is $100,000 more than anticipated from additional parking revenue from the Lehman Causeway and what we anticipate from Pier Park. The next thing to highlight is the ‘state revenue sharing’ formula - projecting $90,000 [based on] population growth estimates. We’ve also doubled our numbers on court fines and forfeitures to $300,000 (the parking enforcement and motor division of the Police Department.)

Interest income is up – we’re going by the current rates, which have started to escalate in the past year…this is just on money that goes in and out of the general operating fund. The city’s total interest income from all our accounts is approaching just about $1 million…[The city also collected] $143,000 in rent from the Alamo car property that we now own.”

‘Examining Expenditures’
The next portion of Russo’s presentation focused on “General Fund highlights” on the expenditure side. “As a result of the staffing study, we’ve proposed budgeting for an assistant city manager,” he said.

“In the Finance Department, we’ve added an office assistant to help with growing needs. Under Zoning, Planning and Building, we’re adding one vehicle; and we’re finally just about up to full staffing after being in a growth mode the past couple of years.

“In the capital budget, between now and second reading, we’re going to add in the first year of image processing for all our city records…we’re going to start with the Police Department and the Building Department [at a cost of] roughly $375,000.

“We have consolidated into Public Works all our expenses relating to fleet management – consolidating auto repairs, tires and fuel. The biggest increases are costs estimated to operate Government Center - plus an administrative coordinator position was added to the administrative staff to work on video content, creative work, scheduling and programming of the cable TV [system]. There is also a new IT position for technical work.

“In the Police Department, [the budget] follows along with our long term plan…We’ve added two officers; filled the accreditation analyst position; and added one office assistant. The capital outlay is for buying ten vehicles - and we’re going to be auctioning off 13…The [police car] take home policy is adding two to three years to the life of the vehicles.

“Other Police Department equipment under ‘capital outlay’ are for items including a copier, portable Lo-Jack system, shot guns, rifles, some surveillance equipment and certain satellite phone equipment needed for various [police] operations…A new boat is the major new item that will be purchased with forfeiture funds.

“Under Code Enforcement and Licensing and Public Works, we’re purchasing new vehicles to be used in conjunction with those operations and parking enforcement…We’ve also added a Government Center building maintenance person and a temporary position for fleet management.

“In Cultural and Human Services, increases have been designated for special events and additional positions…We’ve budgeted for a recreation program manager; added an office assistant position; and an athletic program coordinator. We’ve also hired three additional lifeguards – the budget funds ten all together…We haven’t had a drowning fatality since we increased the lifeguard services over the past two years.

Capital Projects
“Despite the reduction in the tax rate we’ve been able to maintain all our projects and even add some in,” Russo said. “We have a series of various funds in the city totaling over $30 million coming in. In October, we’ll be ready to put the first shovel in the ground for test piling than real piling on the active park project…We’ve also added a budget item for beach parking – the purpose is to increase the benefit of our beaches and ocean front park by creating convenient parking. We’re also continuing to enhance landscaping and moving forward with the Sunny Isles Boulevard project…$3 million is coming in from FDOT for a $4.5 million total project.

“We’re moving forward with launching water taxi transportation…the best location is the dead end of North Bay Road south of 174th Street…[the budget also reflects] the $8.5 million appropriation for the [Sunny Isles Beach] school recently approved by the Miami-Dade County School Board.

“This month, we’re going out to bid on the central island stormwater project. Over the years, this will be the biggest item…We’ll use some cash out of the grant money fund and bond money. So far, we’ve received $800,000 in grant money from the state; and $2.5 million is coming from the County bond issue…Hopefully, we’ll be able to get additional funds from Tallahassee – but we’re in pretty good shape to fund [the stormwater project] now.”

Mayor’s Message
“We’d like to thank the City Manager and members of staff for preparing an excellent budget,” Mayor Norman Edelcup said. “We indicated we would like to come in with a tax reduction rate and we’ve been able to accommodate that for residents, while at the same time keeping our budget in line…plus, this budget still has a contingency fee in it of roughly a quarter million dollars.”

The second budget reading is scheduled for Sept. 22 at Government Center. For more information, phone: 305-947-0606.

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